The Doctors Company released a study finding internal medicine physicians are most likely to be sued for high-severity patient injuries, compared to other specialties, according to Medscape.
Researchers looked at 1,180 closed claims brought against internists between 2007 and 2014, focusing on the most common patient allegations, most common patient injuries, factors contributing to patient injury, most common clinical conditions resulting in patient harm and strategies for mitigating risk.
Here are five statistics:
1. Of internal medicine claims, 39 percent were diagnosis-related claims. The suits claim physicians inaccurately diagnosed their condition or did not diagnose the condition in a timely matter.
2. The following diagnoses were most frequently associated with these claims:
• Myocardial infarction (6 percent)
• Lung cancer (5 percent)
• Colorectal cancer (5 percent)
• Prostate cancer (3 percent)
3. Thirty-two percent of internal medicine claims involved medical treatment errors, such as failure to order or a delay in ordering diagnostic tests.
4. Medication-related errors accounted for 19 percent on internal medicine claims.
5. Researchers found 58 percent of internal medicine claims involved a high-severity injury.
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